Hi,
Dave Dougherty ranted:
"A rant! Am I the only one, or do some of you share my opinion that we are
seeing the continuted dimunition in the number of quality photo finishing
services available? With the advent of the P & S camera and the public's
willingness to put up with shoddy and sloppy photofinishing, the places where
one can get truely quality finishing done are loosing ground. "
You're not the only one. Out of maybe 10 photo shops in my town only two or
three produce what you could call decent photo finish. Most of the others send
them to central labs somewhere else, yes, even to Germany, 400 km away. It
seems to pay.
I have a small shop right around the corner, which has a lab in their back
room. They know me by name and gladly do all what I request, incl. push
processing, keeping the film uncut for easier scanning, and no adjustment for
medium gray when processing prints of concert picts. They have an old processor
still, but will convert to something digital soon.
Thats the shop where I bring my negative films. For my slides, I use a pro lab
which develops film in a Kodak Qual lab, using hanging tanks. They deliver
excellent work fast and quite cheap. And they do have cricital customers. But
don't go there for 10x15cm prints!
"I have had the negative of the photo of my granddaughter ( the one posted to
the list recently) analyzed by a local high-end shop. The problem wasn't
heat, it was bad chemicals in the developing. I don't understand the
chemistry, but whatever it was it caused the grain to clump. "
Ah, the heat problem again. Good to know the reason - how do they analyse that?
"There is One, yes One independant pro lab for color in San Diego, the 7th
largest city in the nation. Their prices are about double what the 1 hr labs
charge and they get it because their results are predictable and very very
good. I am having two 4 x 6 prints made and I am having to wait 10 days
because they are backed up and they will cost $14.00. I can't afford that
too often! "
My pro lab offers to buy developing checks. the more you buy, the cheaper it
gets. While normal film development w/o prints is approx. 20-25 DKK, I get 50
films processed for 23 DKK - that's not bad. They charge two checks for every
batch of films to be push-processed. I need about 50 checks pr. year.
Conclusion: Pro labs deliver the goods. They need not be more costly when you
have a medium high film consumption. But why do amateurs have to be customers
at pro labs? Obviously because the others went entirely into the P&S, if not
Digital, business.
"Just thought I'd vent a bit. Sorry ... "
You're so welcome. It's a part of our "hobby".
Bernd Möller
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